Rewarded ads

Rewarded ads are a popular fullscreen ad format where users receive incentives for viewing ads.

Ad impressions are opt-in: for example, users can initiate them to get game bonuses or extra lives.

Strong user motivation makes this ad format the most popular and profitable adoption in free apps.

Appearance

This guide will show how to integrate rewarded ads into Android apps. In addition to code examples and instructions, it contains format-specific recommendations and links to additional resources.

Prerequisite

  1. Follow the SDK integration steps described under Quick start.
  2. First, you need to initialize the advertising SDK.
  3. Make sure you have the latest Yandex Mobile Ads SDK version. If you're using mediation, update to the most recent single build version.

Implementation

Key steps for integrating rewarded ads:

  • Create and configure the RewardedAdLoader ad loader.
  • Register the listener for ad load callback methods: RewardedAdLoadListener.
  • Load the ad.
  • Register the RewardedAdEventListener listener for ad event callback methods.
  • Render the RewardedAd.
  • Reward the user for viewing the ad.

Features of rewarded ad integration

  1. All calls to Yandex Mobile Ads SDK methods must be made from the main thread.

  2. If you received an error in the onAdFailedToLoad() callback, don't try to load a new ad again. If there's no other option, limit the number of ad load retries. That will help avoid constant unsuccessful requests and connection issues when limitations arise.

  3. We recommend maintaining a strong reference to the loader and ad throughout the lifecycle of the screen that hosts interactions with the ad.

  4. We recommend using a single instance of RewardedAdLoader for all ad loads to improve performance.

Loading ads

To load rewarded ads, create and set up the RewardedAdLoader object.

For that, you'll need Activity or Application context.

To notify when ads load or fail to load, set the RewardedAdLoadListener callback method listener for the RewardedAdLoader object.

To load an ad, you'll need the ad unit ID from the Boost interface (adUnitId).

You can expand the ad request parameters through AdRequestConfiguration.Builder() by passing user interests, contextual app data, location details, or other data. Delivering additional contextual data in the request can significantly improve your ad quality. Read more in the Ad Targeting section.

Once the ad is loaded (by calling the onAdLoaded(rewardedAd: RewardedAd) method), save the link to the loaded RewardedAd before its display is completed.

The following example shows how to load a rewarded ad from Activity:

class RewardedAdActivity : AppCompatActivity(R.layout.activity_rewarded_ad) {
    private var rewardedAd: RewardedAd? = null
    private var rewardedAdLoader: RewardedAdLoader? = null
    private lateinit var binding: ActivityRewardedAdBinding

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        binding = ActivityRewardedAdBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
        setContentView(binding.root)

        // Rewarded ads loading should occur after initialization of the SDK.
        // Initialize SDK as early as possible, for example in Application.onCreate or Activity.onCreate
        rewardedAdLoader = RewardedAdLoader(this).apply {
            setAdLoadListener(object : RewardedAdLoadListener {
                override fun onAdLoaded(rewardedAd: RewardedAd) {
                    this.rewardedAd = rewardedAd
                    // The ad was loaded successfully. You can now show the ad.
                }

                override fun onAdFailedToLoad(adRequestError: AdRequestError) {
                    // Ad failed to load with AdRequestError.
                    // Attempting to load a new ad from the onAdFailedToLoad() method is strongly discouraged.
                }
            })
        }
        loadRewardedAd()
    }

    private fun loadRewardedAd() {
        val adRequestConfiguration = AdRequestConfiguration.Builder("your-ad-unit-id").build()
        rewardedAdLoader?.loadAd(adRequestConfiguration)
    }
}

public class RewardedAdActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    @Nullable
    private RewardedAd mRewardedAd = null;
    @Nullable
    private RewardedAdLoader mRewardedAdLoader = null;
    private ActivityRewardedAdBinding mBinding;

    public RewardedAdActivity() {
        super(R.layout.activity_rewarded_ad);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        mBinding = ActivityRewardedAdBinding.inflate(getLayoutInflater());
        setContentView(mBinding.getRoot());

        // Interstitial ads loading should occur after initialization of the SDK.
        // Initialize SDK as early as possible, for example in Application.onCreate or Activity.onCreate
        mRewardedAdLoader = new RewardedAdLoader(this);
        mRewardedAdLoader.setAdLoadListener(new RewardedAdLoadListener() {
            @Override
            public void onAdLoaded(@NonNull final RewardedAd rewardedAd) {
                mRewardedAd = rewardedAd;
                // The ad was loaded successfully. You can now show the ad.
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdFailedToLoad(@NonNull final AdRequestError adRequestError) {
                // Ad failed to load with AdRequestError.
                // Attempting to load a new ad from the onAdFailedToLoad() method is strongly discouraged.
            }
        });
        loadRewardedAd();
    }

    private void loadRewardedAd() {
        if (mRewardedAdLoader != null ) {
            final AdRequestConfiguration adRequestConfiguration =
                new AdRequestConfiguration.Builder("your-ad-unit-id").build();
            mRewardedAdLoader.loadAd(adRequestConfiguration);
        }
    }
}

Ad rendering

Rewarded ads are an incentivized ad format that allows users to earn rewards by viewing ads. These rewards may include extra lives or the ability to advance to the next level in a game. The reward format is determined by the app itself.

To track the rewarded ad lifecycle and issue rewards, set the RewardedAdEventListener callback method listener for the RewardedAd object.

To render an ad, you'll need to pass the Activity to the show method of the loaded ad:

private fun showAd() {
    rewardedAd?.apply {
        setAdEventListener(object : RewardedAdEventListener {
            override fun onAdShown() {
                // Called when an ad is shown.
            }

            override fun onAdFailedToShow(adError: AdError) {
            	// Called when an RewardedAd failed to show
            }

            override fun onAdDismissed() {
                // Called when an ad is dismissed.
                // Clean resources after Ad dismissed
                rewardedAd?.setAdEventListener(null)
                rewardedAd = null

                // Now you can preload the next rewarded ad.
                loadRewardedAd()
            }

            override fun onAdClicked() {
                // Called when a click is recorded for an ad.
            }

            override fun onAdImpression(impressionData: ImpressionData?) {
                // Called when an impression is recorded for an ad.
            }

            override fun onRewarded(reward: Reward) {
                // Called when the user can be rewarded.
            }
        })
        show(this@Activity)
    }
}

private void showAd() {
    if (mRewardedAd != null) {
        mRewardedAd.setAdEventListener(new RewardedAdEventListener() {
            @Override
            public void onAdShown() {
                // Called when an ad is shown.
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdFailedToShow(@NonNull final AdError adError) {
                // Called when an InterstitialAd failed to show.
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdDismissed() {
                // Called when an ad is dismissed.
                // Clean resources after Ad dismissed
                if (mRewardedAd != null) {
                    mRewardedAd.setAdEventListener(null);
                    mRewardedAd = null;
                }

                // Now you can preload the next interstitial ad.
                loadRewardedAd();
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdClicked() {
                // Called when a click is recorded for an ad.
            }

            @Override
            public void onAdImpression(@Nullable final ImpressionData impressionData) {
                // Called when an impression is recorded for an ad.
            }

            @Override
            public void onRewarded(@NonNull final Reward reward) {
                // Called when the user can be rewarded.
            }
        });
        mRewardedAd.show(this);
    }
}

Releasing resources

Don't store links to previously rendered ads. Call setAdEventListener(null) for previously rendered ads. Call setAdLoadListener(null) for the loader if it's no longer used. That releases the resources and prevents memory leaks.

override fun onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy()
    rewardedAdLoader.setAdLoadListener(null)
    rewardedAdLoader = null
    destroyRewardedAd()
}

private fun destroyRewardedAd() {
    rewardedAd?.setAdEventListener(null)
    rewardedAd = null
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    if (mRewardedAdLoader != null) {
        mRewardedAdLoader.setAdLoadListener(null);
        mRewardedAdLoader = null;
    }
    destroyRewardedAd();
}

private void destroyRewardedAd() {
    if (mRewardedAd != null) {
        mRewardedAd.setAdEventListener(null);
        mRewardedAd = null;
    }
}

Testing the rewarded ad integration

Using demo ad units for ad testing

Use test ads to check your rewarded ad integration and the app itself. To make sure that test ads are returned for each ad request, you can use a special demo ad placement ID.

Demo adUnitId: demo-rewarded-yandex.

Warning

Before publishing your app in the store, make sure to replace the demo placement ID with the real ID you obtained in the Boost interface.

For the list of all available demo ad placement IDs, see Demo ad units for testing.

Testing ad integration

You can check if your rewarded ads are integrated correctly using the SDK's built-in analyzer. A detailed report with the test results will appear in the log.

To view the report, search for the keyword “YandexAds” in Logcat, a tool for debugging Android apps.

adb logcat -v brief '*:S YandexAds'

If the integration is successful, the following message is returned:

adb logcat -v brief '*:S YandexAds'
mobileads$ adb logcat -v brief '*:S YandexAds'
I/YandexAds(13719): [Integration] Ad type rewarded was integrated successfully

If there are any rewarded ad integration issues, you'll get a detailed issue report and troubleshooting recommendations.

Additional resources

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Requirements for ad assets and ad placement
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InStream ads